Muslim Candidate Threatened

A Muslim candidate for the Irvine City Council said Thursday that a councilman's comment linking an Islamic civil rights group to terrorism has led to a death threat against him. Police said they are investigating.

Attorney Todd Gallinger, a Muslim convert, said a man called his office Tuesday, about three weeks after Councilman Steven Choi spoke at a forum and urged voters not to support a candidate who worked for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The council, which has 35 offices in the United States and Canada, is "a dangerous Islamic organization," Choi told 150 business leaders. Although he did not name Gallinger, the comment was clearly aimed at the 29-year-old lawyer, who has done legal work for the council's Southern California chapter in Anaheim.

Gallinger said the caller thought he was talking to him but told an employee, "I want to cut off your head just like all the other Muslims deserve." [link]